Holland On Perverseness

"What on earth did lio do thál for ?" "The Lord only knowi, I don't; bul I've a strong sunpicion 't'was just to be O3ürary." Such wero tlíe fragmenta of fi conversation tlmt tsaughl oor car the otber day. Wliüo pondern; them, wc stumbld upon Hollund's " Lessori of Life " entitled " Perverseiu:s--," and t eeefna to us so oapitally to teil wliy "he" did " that," and wliy many otbwfl have done similar tbings, thut wo tliink it entitled toareprint, particularly, au tbo question "what on earth did he do it for r" muy have nterroguted other eurs than ours and those of tlie particular persOQ to whoin it was addreseed. ITndor the houd of " Pervorseness " saya Holland : - It seems to me thnt thcre is a groat deal ot human nature ín a pig, or thnt tliere is a great deal of pig in human nnturo. I find myself al w aya syinpathiziog with a pig that wishes to go in un opposite direction to that iti which its owner would drive it. It would be a stifficient reason lor me to desire to go öastwttrd, that i man was bt-hind me, wilh an oath in his inouth and a very heavy boot on his foot, endeavoring to drive me westward. We are jealoua of our freedom. We natorallj rise in opposition to a will that undertukes to oomrouod our movements. 'J'hi it) not the reeult of edu catión at all; ii is pure human nature. Command achild - who.shall be only old enoogh to onderstand you - to;e!rain ír:ra a special aot, and yon excite in hifi heart a deeire to do that act ; and he wil] have, nite times in ten, no reason lor liis de sire to do it butyour commund thatlie ghall nol. Thö youngegt human rouI that hus a will at all, takes the fïrst occasion lo declare its independenoe. . At starting, [ must give pcrvorsenesa a somewbat broader moaning than that thus far ndicated. I will saythat that perron is really perverse vvho, fröm vanity, or jrido of opinión and will, o;lualice, or any mean uonmderation, refusos to yicld his conduct uid l:imïelf to those motiven and nflueneea which hia reason and conneienoe i'ecognize to be pure and good nnd truo. - In its least aggravated form, perhaps, we find it among lovers. Vvromen will someti.nes persistingly ignore a passion which thej' know hna taken full possession of them, and grieve the heart that loves them by a coldoess and snee which thoy do not ieel at all. - Rather tlia'i aekoowledge their affecli.m tbr fine wboselosa ivtmld kill thern, Dr, what woiikl be thu name thing, kill Lbe world for tbem, they have lied, grown isiL-k, and nearly insano. Tbia is a porverseness very uncotnmoQ. - Sometimes lovers have been very ton der and devoted aó long as a doubt of uhiinate mutual poeseesion remained to g-ive rast to poaeession, bat the raoinent this tloubt lias been removed, one or tlie olher has become incomprehcnsibly indifferent. I have noliced tliat very fow naftrried pairs nre matuhea in the matter of wartnth and expression of p ssifn betwfon the partksa. Tlie tnan vill bu all devoüon and tenderneisa - brimming with expregsions of qfieotion and exhibiüoN.s of fondoess, and the woman uil coolnes3 and pasivity, or (which is much more cominon) the woman vvill be active in expression, lavishing caressea and tendérnosles upon a man whovery possibly grows harder nnd coldor wi h every delicate proof that the wholo we'alth of his wiie1.-? nature is pourud at his feet, as 8 Ubation upon an altar. [t is herp that we Poe somo of tlie etrangest oasea of perversión that it ia wssible to conceive. I know raen wlio aio not bad men - who,I snpposo. ■eallv love and ri tpeot their wivos; and wbo would dony thcr.selves even to leroisni, to give theni the comforts and axuriea of life, vet who tind themse ves moved to rejeot with poorlycovered scorn, ai'd ulmost to reaent, tlie varied expressiona of affeetion to which those wivos give uttranoe. I ;nmv wivée who long to pour their noarts into the hearts of their husbands, and lo get sjmpathetïo and fit response, bnt who are never allowed to do it. Tbey lived n constrained, cuppressed unsatisfied life. Théy absolutflv pide for the privilege oí íaying n-hat they feel, [n all love'a languages", toward rineñ who love them, but who grow hardqr ui;h évery warm, invading breath. A shower that purities the atmospbóre, and relVoshes tho f;ice oí heíiven itself, BOure cv;un, jirt as toveí BWttétest oxuressions soura tbert ir.cn. ] have known wives tó walk through Buch exporiencea D8 tliis into a coniJitíon oí abject slavery' ; to waate their afiectioQ without return, until they havo become poór, ánd spirítleas, and menn I bave known ihem tolobetheir vill; to become ilie mero depcndebt mistresseaoí their husbands; to bu creoping cravens in dwelliuys' vvhere it fthould bu their privilege to move as rodient rjueens. I huve known them tbrown back upon thomsclvcp, until they have become bitter railers against their busbands ; uncomfortablo obrnpaniooa ; openly and shamalessly flouting their aflfoction. I do oot know wliat to make of tho pefvevseoess which indu man to repel the advancee of a höart which worehipí him, and to become hard and tyrannical in tho deree by vvhiiih that "hcart eenks lo expresa itfi affeotion íor him. Thcre are husbandí who would tako tlio deelaration that they do not love their wivea as an in8nlt, yet wlio hold tlio woman who Weí them in fear and restraint thro' their whcle Ufe. I know vvives who move abont their houses with a trembling regard tn the mnods and notions of their husbanda ; wives wlio Ikivg no nioro Ifiwly thnn elaves, who never ppend a cent oí money without a feelng of guilt, and who nover give nn order about tho house without the same doubt of their ünthoriiy thnt they would hfcvo if tlioy ware only housekeepers, wnployed at t very eennoini cal salary. I c:in think of no prop r puniebmenl tor-euch husbunds except daily dacking in a horSé-potíd, until reformalion-. Yet these ast;rs are so uneonaoiotu of their detes'.abie habits of feelipg and liiu, ttiat, probably, no one of them who reada thïs will think that I mean him, but wil! wonde where ï have livtd to Ifell in with snel outlandish people. Tho most precious possession tha ever comes to a man in this work is a woman'a heart. Why som graoelul and mo?t aimiable women whom I know wül poraist in loVing soino uien whom I nlso know, s more than I kimw. I wil] not. cali their lorè :in axhibition of pervemenoss, tbongh itlookt like it; bulthat lhe.se men v.itii tbesa ricb, swoet bearts in tbeir hands, grow sour and snappish, and surly and tyrannïcal and exaeting is the most accounlablj thing in tiicworld. If :i [)ig wül not iillow hirnself to ba dnven, ho will foÜow a mmi who offers bitr. coni, and ho wül eat tbe com, even thougb ho puts his fuut in the trough ; bnt there nre men, some of tliem of Christian prof 9iong, who tako evory tenderness tbeir wives briog them, and every expranion of affoo;ion, and evory service, and every yearninwyrhpailiy, andtrwnple them mider feot witii out tasting tbem, and without a look of gnititude in their eyes. Hard, cold, thin-blooded, white livered, contomptiblo curinudgemiH ; they think their vvives weak and foollsh, and thöin selvas wise and dignified ! I hvg my readers to assist me indespising them. T do not fee] ndoquato to lbo tak of doin them justice. Of the perversenoss oí partisancbip in politics much is writtun, and my pen nued not dip intoit ; but therois a perverseness exhibited hy Christian churchea in their quarrels that shou'd be exposetl and discuised, becau.-u some peoplo have an irnpreswion that it may poesibly be piety. "For dum aquzz!e read permanence," fuiid an editor, oorrecting a tyographical error that had found its ivay into his journal. It aiiems ia itraoga that perversenem should bü mi-;takün for piety, a that "permaaence" ahould be mistaken tor "dum Bquizzle," but I believe jt often is. Let some little c.mse of diaturbance arise; and become active in a church, and it is astonishing how both partios go to work and pray over it. The pastor, pürbaps, has said oometbing on tho subjeut of laverj', of iio uot preach doctrine epongh, or lia preacbea the wrong sort of doctrine, or hu does notvisit the people eaougb, or thero is " a row" about the singing, or about a chango in the hyrnn-booka, or about repairiag the church, or liuviüg an orgun, or something or othor, and etraightway sidos are taken, and the wüls of bot!) parties get rotised. - It i.s so:;:.tinius laugttablo - t would alwava bc, onlv that it i.s too Bad - to seo how quickly both parties grow perverse. It would seem, as tho strito waxes hot, that tlie g'ory oí God M ever po mnc.h in hearts au now, Tbey iray with fervor, they are constant ia beir public religieus duties, they pass hrough the most scrnpulous solf-exmination, and Ihey fighl on to tlie bitoi' end; believing I mpopse, tbat they ire really dniog God's servioe, when hey aru only gralif'ying Iherr ovvu per■erae wills. Churches havo boen ruiued, or divilod, or crippled in their power, by a atuse oí qunrrel too insignifioant to enjage tho raio ds of sensible woKdly nen for nu hour. I hnve baard it suid bat churcli quarrels are the most vioent of all quarreli, because religious eelings are the Btrongest teeoling rf mr nature. I confess that I do not ;ue ihu foreo of this statement, for it loos not nppear to tne that religiou eolings have muuli to do with these juarrels. I can mach moro eastly se ,vhy ;t!l personal difterenoes ihoiíld be i Ij usted jeaooubly in a ctmroli, for .iiere it is eupposed thal tho iadividunl iviii is gubordinotod to the cause of re igioD and the general go.ud. The real ansie of tho bittorness of chorcfa qimr■ols is woman. There aro no oLhers sxcept [wigbwhood quorrel v.ill at once L)e recogoizad as more like a ohuruh thap imy other. Woroen hr.vo ttrong reelihgs, are attracled or repulsed through through their sensibilititvíonueivo keen likesi ind disiikoti, du not stop to reason, and aro, oí eoiirso, the readieet and most devoied partíanos. - If the mouibs of tho women ( Di:!v lus smothered in a ehurch quarrol. it would bo sottled muoti eánier. Of all the perverse urentmvs in this woild, a woman who has thoroughly opnamitted herself to any man, or any cause, is the loast tractuble and reasonábio. - I hopo ihis statement v.ill not offend niy Bweat lViends, beoauaa it is ao tnie that I cannot oooscientiouclf retraut it. Perverseüess ii a sign of waaknegs - nay, an element of weaknoss - ín man or woman. It is no legitímate part oí' a trne character. T.n gwuarous, outspoken man, who s not afiaid to show h'nnself, and what there is in hiro, who cares m'cire about the righ't way than hiti way, who thiMws away an old hal., the moment ho finds it is v.orlhloss, and who gooU-naturiidly allows the friutjons of society to straighten out all the kinks there are in hira, is tho strong man alvvays, and always the one whom men love Pefverreneas is really moral Btrttbnmut, and I am hocked to think what a multitude of quint-ej'ej souls there will be, when vo come to look into one another's ices in tho ' undress of iramortaly." . - fuw - 1